Nigerian insurers must obtain each individual client's NIN and BVN before starting cover, under a NAICOM circular of 22 October 2025, and had to update existing policies that lacked them. SMS reminders are a practical way to reach policyholders, but they must send people to a secure channel (your portal, app or branch) and never ask them to reply with their BVN or NIN, because fraudsters copy exactly that kind of message.
Last reviewed: 27 October 2026
This guide is for insurers, brokers and agency managers. It summarises what the circular is reported to require, sets out a reminder sequence for new, renewing and group policies, gives sample messages, and shows how to run the campaign with eSMS Africa. Check the circular and NAICOM's latest notices for current deadlines; this is not legal advice.
What the NAICOM circular requires
According to Leadership's report of the circular, issued under section 64(4) of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025:
- Insurers shall not provide or incept any insurance cover without the BVN and NIN of the individual client. Corporate clients provide standard Corporate Affairs Commission documents.
- For group policies, including Group Life, insurers and brokers must obtain a schedule with each employee's name, date of birth, BVN and NIN before cover starts.
- Proposal forms must restate the requirement.
- Policies already in force without these details were to be updated by 31 December 2025, with underwriters contacting policyholders directly or through intermediaries.
- Insurers and brokers must run customer awareness campaigns, and operators that fail to comply face sanctions.
In 2026, Radio Nigeria Lagos reported (12 March) that the Commissioner for Insurance had set 30 April as the deadline for policyholders to submit their NIN and that sanctions would follow for underwriters that failed to obtain it. The News Agency of Nigeria reported in April that insurers were sending direct messages to new and existing policyholders, attaching the regulator's memo, and seeking customer consent before capturing NINs. If your book still has policies without verified identifiers, check NAICOM's current position and treat the work as overdue.
Who needs a message
| Segment | What they need to do | Best channel |
|---|---|---|
| New individual customers | Provide NIN and BVN before the policy starts | Proposal form and onboarding; SMS confirms receipt |
| Existing individual policyholders missing data | Update NIN and BVN | SMS reminder to the portal, app or branch, then agent follow-up |
| Renewals | Confirm identifiers before renewal | Renewal notice SMS 30 and 7 days before expiry |
| Group Life and group health members | Employee details on the employer's schedule | Employer HR contact; SMS to the HR contact, not to every employee |
| Customers of brokers and agents | As above, through the intermediary | Broker sends from their own sender ID, or you send with the broker named |
Write reminders that cannot be mistaken for phishing
A message that says "Your policy will be suspended. Send your BVN to..." is a fraudster's dream template. Customers have heard warnings about BVN scams for years, and a sloppy reminder trains them to trust the wrong thing. Every reminder should:
- Come from your approved, recognisable sender ID.
- Name the customer and a masked policy number, so it is obviously about their policy.
- Point to your own website domain, app or branch, never to a reply, a third-party form or a personal phone number.
- State plainly that you will never ask for the BVN or NIN by SMS reply or phone call.
- Avoid threats and false urgency. State the requirement and the date, calmly.
- Never include the NIN or BVN itself, even partly, in any SMS.
Sample messages
| Stage | Sample |
|---|---|
| First reminder | ShieldLife: Dear Mr Bello, NAICOM rules require your NIN and BVN on policy **4471. Update at shieldlife.ng/kyc or any branch. We never ask by SMS or call. |
| Second reminder | ShieldLife: Mr Bello, policy **4471 still needs your NIN and BVN. It takes 3 minutes at shieldlife.ng/kyc. Help: 0700 000 0000 |
| Renewal with KYC | ShieldLife: Your motor policy **4471 renews on 30/11. Please confirm your NIN and BVN at shieldlife.ng/kyc before then. Help: 0700 000 0000 |
| Confirmation | ShieldLife: Thank you, Mr Bello. Your identity details for policy **4471 have been verified. No further action is needed. |
| Group HR contact | ShieldLife: Dear HR team, 14 staff on your Group Life schedule still need NIN/BVN. Upload via the employer portal or email your account officer. |
| Broker-led | Kora Brokers for ShieldLife: Mrs Okafor, your health policy needs your NIN and BVN. Update at shieldlife.ng/kyc. We never ask for them by SMS. |
Keep each reminder to one GSM-7 segment of 160 characters. The confirmation message matters as much as the reminders: customers who updated once and keep receiving reminders lose trust and call your contact centre.
A sequence that works without nagging
- Day 0: first reminder to every policyholder missing data, sent on a weekday morning.
- Day 7: second reminder to those still missing data. Remove anyone who updated, every day.
- Day 14: hand undelivered numbers and non-responders to agents or brokers for a call or visit. Delivery reports tell you which numbers never received the SMS, so agents can update contact details first.
- Renewals: fold the identity check into the renewal notices you already send 30 and 7 days before expiry.
- Confirmation: send within minutes of a successful verification.
DND and consent
Under the NCC's Do-Not-Disturb service, banking, insurance and financial products are partial DND category 1. That category governs marketing. A compliance notice about a customer's existing policy is a service message and is typically carried on a transactional sender ID, which reaches DND numbers; this is operator practice, so confirm your sender ID's approval covers it. The moment you add a cross-sell ("Also, get 10% off travel cover"), the message becomes promotional and DND applies.
The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 applies to the identifiers you collect. Collect only what the circular requires, explain why at the point of collection, store it securely, and keep SMS content to the minimum: a masked policy number and a link. Insurers quoted by NAN said they obtain customer consent before capturing NINs.
Running the campaign with eSMS Africa
Export policyholders missing data from your policy administration system with name, phone, masked policy number and channel (direct, broker, group). Then either import the file to the dashboard at sms.esmsafrica.io and send with merge fields, or call the bulk API:
curl -X POST https://sms.esmsafrica.io/api/messages/send-bulk \
-H "Authorization: Bearer esms_live_your_api_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"sender_id": "ShieldIns",
"text": "ShieldLife: Dear {{name}}, policy {{policy}} still needs your NIN and BVN. Update securely at shieldlife.ng/kyc or any branch. We never ask by SMS or call.",
"recipients": [
{"to": "+2348031234567", "name": "Mr Bello", "vars": {"policy": "**4471"}},
{"to": "+2348091234567", "name": "Mrs Okafor", "vars": {"policy": "**9023"}}
]
}'
Useful controls for regulated teams: campaign approvals and team roles let compliance sign off the wording before anything goes out, scheduling keeps sends to weekday working hours, and reports give you an audit trail of what was sent to whom and when. Test the flow end to end with an esms_test_ key, which simulates sends without charge.
Checklist
- Wording approved by compliance; no request to reply with NIN or BVN.
- Links point only to your own domain, app or branch list.
- Masked policy number in each message; no identifiers in SMS.
- Sender ID approved on MTN, Airtel, Glo and T2 for service messages.
- Updated customers removed daily; confirmation sent on success.
- Undelivered and non-responding customers passed to agents and brokers.
- Group schemes handled through the employer's HR contact.
- No cross-selling inside compliance reminders.
What it costs
Two reminders and a confirmation per policyholder is three messages. At NGN 9.1 ($0.0068) per message on the basic tier, or NGN 6.1 on the enterprise tier, the campaign usually costs far less than agent calls to the same customers. See the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What does the NAICOM circular of 22 October 2025 require?
As reported by Leadership, insurers must obtain the BVN and NIN of individual clients (and CAC documents for corporate clients) before starting cover, include employee identifiers on group schedules, and update existing policies that lack them.
Can customers reply to the SMS with their NIN?
They should not, and your messages should say so. Replies travel over SMS in plain text, and asking for identifiers by SMS teaches customers to fall for phishing. Use your portal, app or branches.
Do reminders reach policyholders on DND?
Service messages about an existing policy, sent on an approved transactional sender ID, typically reach DND numbers. Adding a promotion makes the message promotional and subject to DND.
Should we message every employee on a group policy?
The circular places the schedule duty on insurers and brokers working with the employer, so start with the employer's HR contact. Message employees directly only where you hold their numbers and a clear basis to use them.
Sources
- Leadership - Policyholders to submit NIN, BVN before insurance contract activation (NAICOM circular, 22 October 2025)
- Radio Nigeria Lagos - NAICOM sets deadline for policyholders to submit NIN (March 2026)
- News Agency of Nigeria - Insurance firms step up NIN compliance before deadline (April 2026)
- NCC - Do-Not-Disturb (DND) service in Nigeria
- Future of Privacy Forum - Nigeria's new Data Protection Act, explained
See renewal, claims and premium templates on the insurance SMS page for Nigeria, and read our guides to one-segment alert templates and what reaches DND numbers. Register your sender ID on the Nigeria sender ID page, then create an account to run a test campaign.
